Schwahn’s log books show she has personally taught over 600 students. She’s even prouder of another stat in her log book: she has signed off on over 200 Certified Flight Instructors (CFI) over the years. “What I enjoy most is seeing other people succeed and helping them reach their dreams, because it’s more fun when you’re personally invested,” Schwahn describes. “I especially like making new teachers, helping people become CFIs. When you know you’ve helped create a great teacher, you know the impact is going to be that much greater. If each of the 200 CFIs I’ve signed off on go and teach 600 people to fly, and 200 people to become CFIs...well, that’s a lot of math. Let’s just say, it’s potentially a very big impact.” Her supervisors also credit her as instrumen- tal in the growth and success of Summit Aviation and Bozeman Airport, and with helping Summit Aviation develop custom training curriculum and charter manuals during the transition to a Part 141 flight training center and Part 135 operator. Schwahn’s own journey in aviation started when she just 15 years old, raking leaves outside with her mom, when a small plane flew overhead. “I remember sort of daydreaming a little bit as I looked up and telling my mom in an off-hand sort of way, ‘I want to try that someday.’ And the very next day she signed me up for my first lesson! I mentioned it, she thought it sounded like a great idea; and then I did it and fell in love with it. In some ways, I’ve never done anything else,” Schwahn says. “I remember I had soloed before I could drive a car. My mom had to drive me to the airport because I hadn’t bothered to get my driver’s license before my pilot’s license.” After her flight training and earning a four-year degree in aviation, Schwahn says she naturally went into flight instruction. She tried several different jobs in aviation, but kept coming back to teaching and worked her way up to a job as the Assistant Chief Instructor at Kansas State University before moving to Bozeman, Montana in 2009 to take a job at Summit Aviation. “When I first came here to interview for the job, it was in this very office that is my office now,” Schwahn says. “I remember staring out this window at the Bridger Mountains, like I’m doing now, and just knowing in my heart that this is where I belong.” She’s now the Chief Instructor and Charter Manager at Summit Aviation, and says flying around those mountains still brings a smile to her face every time. “It’s a pretty open valley for the most part, if you don’t turn north. The Bridger range runs more east- west than north-south, so we get the craziest moun- tain currents, with these tremendous downdrafts. We teach mountain flying here, and the Bridger range has some of the best soaring in the United States: you see gliders up there all the time. We also get some fast-moving squalls. These mountains create their own weather and their own uniqueness, and every- thing can change in an instant. It can be a challeng- ing environment to fly in, and to teach in. But, for the same reasons, it’s really an ideal place for pilots to come get some real mountain flying experience.” Continued on page 35 Aviation Business Journal | 2nd Quarter 2018 33
